


Dawn to Ash

by LtLime23



Series: Disappear Without a Trace [4]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - College/University, Dirty beats, F/F, Love, Lust, Soulmates, dancing in the dark, gravity - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-12 01:14:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28502040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LtLime23/pseuds/LtLime23
Summary: Written as part of the MEFFW Secret Santa 2020Shepard and Liara carve out a space to fall into each others flames.
Relationships: Female Shepard/Liara T'Soni
Series: Disappear Without a Trace [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/830217
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17
Collections: MEFFW Secret Santa Exchange 2020





	Dawn to Ash

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Iarinthel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iarinthel/gifts).



> Written as part of the MEFFW Secret Santa gift exchange.
> 
> Brought in as a pinch-hitter. Iarinthel, I know you likely wanted something a little more explicit than this but at short notice I find it difficult to get into that space. This is set in my Skimmed Stones & Heartbeats AU. Shepard is 18 and the story is very much a coming of age type affair. This would feature somewhere between Chapter 16/17. Liara and Jayne are mad for each other but struggle to find the time and space to fall into one another. I hope you like it. 
> 
> For Spotify users there is an accompanying playlist 'Dawn to Ash' which might give your ears a clue as to the vibe I was heading for, listen to it on shuffle.

It was only 17:45 as Shepard watched the burnt orb of the March sunset slip behind the horizon of whale-backed hills. Slivers of vibrant red split the strata of bulbous cloud which were building ominously as the breeze steered from the North. Jayne felt a shiver run down her spine, already anticipating the blasting cold waiting to embrace her. If she and Ashley were lucky it might even rain.

“If we get pissed on I will not be happy,” Ashley huffed.

The pair holstered their sidearms, made one final check of their assault rifles, before shouldering their weapons and exiting the armoury. They fell in-step moving efficiently towards the perimeter patrol-way. Relieving the previous patrol Ashley and Jayne started the first of many three-mile circuits of the Beachley Island Alliance Academy. With each revolution the burnt iron sky spun into deepening violets until heavy ink washed out any hint of twilight. Neither flinched when the power breakers clunked to live, charging the high-beam spotlights the sentry towers used to sweep the land approaching the seven-meter perimeter fence.

Ashley glanced up at one of the towers, the briefest nod to the sniper who whistled a greeting as they passed beneath.

“A lot of hardware for not a lot of action,” Ashley mused.

“It’s all part of the game through, gets us used to staying focused ad nauseum,” Shepard said.

“You mean during those dull ass admiralty inspections?”

“Ergh! Or those awful parades of military hardware. Besides, the fence and spots are to keep us in.”

“Sh!” Ashley nudged Shepard’s shoulder playfully, “don’t you dare speak ill of the tattoo you’ll get pasted for treason.” Ashley could almost feel Jayne rolling her eyes.

“True, we all know Hackett loves a nice shiny canon,” Shepard said. She shifted her rifle, nudging up her sleeve to check the time.

Ashley tutted, “honestly Shep, it’s only like five minutes since you last checked. What’s the play anyway, we _never_ take the early patrol.”

Jayne shifted shyly, “just wanted a change. . .”

“Bullshit!” Ashley cut across Shepard, they’d been friends since Ashley joined the cadet programme at thirteen, she knew when Jayne was being coy. “The sudden change in shift doesn’t have anything to do with a particular asari by any chance?”

“God I can practically feel you wiggling your eyebrows at me,” Shepard replied evasively.

“Still waiting for an answer.”

Jayne sighed.

“Maybe,” she hesitated, “look, the school charge ball team won the league and there’s a party to celebrate. Kindof a private gathering, I want to celebrate with Grunt.”

“And grind with your girlfriend where nobody’s watching?” Ashley bit her lip smiling. She knew all about the expectations of Asari high-society and with Jayne basically dating Thessian royalty now she also knew all eyes were on them. She couldn’t count the number of sensationalist articles that had plastered the extranet since the press got wind Heiress T’Soni’s had a new girlfriend.

Shepard shrugged in the dark.

“We’re eighteen, well I mean I am,” there was almost embarrassment in Shepard’s tone.

“Girls got needs!” Williams giggled, playfully batting Jayne’s tactical butt-cheek before adding an “ooh-rah!” For good measure.

Shepard threw back her head, grinning while simultaneously blushing furiously. Since she’d had her amp fitted and no longer needed to keep her emotions or feelings buried it was as if years of pent up hormonal turbulence was finally washing through her.

“Fuck Ash, is it always like this? The mad lust I mean, like it’s as if we can’t get enough of each other.”

“Oh man Vega cannot keep pace. Dudes talk such a big game but honestly one-shot ponies, be glad you’ve got yourself a girl.”

Jayne shook her head as if trying to dislodge her brain from its current track.

“Let’s keep walking Williams, get this done.”

“Yes ma’am!”

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shepard cursed the tightness of her black jeans as she swung her leg over her bike, flicking on the front light.

“You’re not sneaking off base are you Corporal?”

“No Sir,” Jayne replied, not looking up, “I’m leaving the base in a very obvious and overt manner.”

Garrus couldn’t keep the laughter from his voice.

“Indeed. Congratulate the team on their victory and if you must drink please at least avoid the ryncol.”

“Yes Sir,” Shepard replied, flashing a smile and her sharpest salute.

Pedalling through the night Jayne sucked the air across her teeth letting its chill settle her. Ashley had been mostly correct in her assessment, Jayne and Liara were desperate to spend some time. . .away. The T’Soni estate was large enough that sure they could find privacy, but it always felt chaste. Shepard had the upmost respect for the Councillor and the T’Soni House, carving out an intimate space with Liara felt wrong in some way. Or at least neither felt they could indulge in the rawer side of their want.

Jayne felt her pulse start to climb as her mind drifted to the darker edges of her lust. Lingering on thoughts of Liara’s perfect curves beneath her fingertips, perhaps shrouded in a flow of satin. Shepard came too as she veered erratically. Chiding herself she stood up on the pedals, accelerating through the deserted streets.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The orange glow of the streetlamps pulsed across Liara’s features in the rear-view mirror. Shiala felt her hands grip the skycar controls a little tighter. She had never imagined she’d be dropping the Heiress at an underground high school rave. Not for the first time the acolyte chuckled at the thought that ‘it was always the quiet ones’. Certainly, the tightness, and blackness, of Liara’s outfit complete with polished knee-high boots and a lipstick that seemed to mirror the infinity of space itself, telegraphed the maidan’s intent loud and clear.

“What was the final score?” Shiala asked.

Liara blinked, her thoughts having drifted a long way from the skycar.

“Sorry?”

“The final score of the charge ball game that won the league, what was it?” Shiala schooled her expression. She saw Liara roll her eyes.

“You know very well I have not the slightest interest in school sport.”

“Mmm-hmmm, do we need to have a ‘talk’?”

“About drugs, or drink, or violence or sex?” Liara queried, leaning forward to Shiala’s shoulder.

“Look,” Shiala took on a serious tone, “just stay safe OK, you fill any species with a belly full of booze and common-sense becomes somewhat of an exotic trait.”

Liara kissed the acolyte’s cheek.

“Thank you. I’m not going to get drunk, I just want an evening where I can pretend I can put everything down.”

Shiala nodded.

“I know. The girls will be discrete, nobody will be inside OK, we’ll give you space as best we can.” Shiala guided the skycar carefully down to the street below. A small group of what she assumed to be Liara’s classmates stood huddled in the cold outside a small concrete building, the sign above the door reading ‘BUNKER’. The acolyte deciding it was best she didn’t know what was being passed between the group. The muffled thump of a bassline hummed the ground raising goosebumps along Shiala’s arm, she swallowed against her own memories of hot bodies in dark spaces. “I’ll be parked around the corner when you’re ready to go home.”

Without a word Liara stepped into the night. The pulse of the ground drifting from the soles of her feet, to her ankles, calf, knees, and thighs, before settling into the sway of her hips with each step closer to the entrance. The bicycle resting on the outside wall told her all she needed to know. Through the peeling dark-green doorway Liara started down the stairs. Seemingly savouring each downward tread. She trailed a finger along the checker plate on the walls, it’s coolth a contrast to the increasing heat and humidity as she continued to descend.

The skin across Liara’s shoulders prickled as she felt the thrill of electricity in the air. She rolled her neck, letting the music call to her. The throng of people before her were already on their way to a night of oblivion. The reds, purples and blues of the lights flicking across faces she wouldn’t remember in the morning.

Ignoring the bar, she continued her careful prowl of the venue. Melting through the pauses between couples twined along corridors. Approaching a backroom Liara could hear the roar of a rowdy Krogan. She paused at the doorway, smiling. The charge ball team were high on their victory, animatedly reliving each play, glasses and bottles serving as props, voices getting louder and more slurred with each retelling. On the peripheral, leaning against the wall in the half shadows, just involved in the conversation enough but not centre stage was Jayne. Liara allowed herself a moment to indulge in the image of her girlfriend, tall, lean, relaxed, the pull of a smile reaching her eyes.

Shepard caught sight of Liara, offering a crooked smile and feeling flames catch in her throat which matched the ones burning in Liara’s eyes. The world seemed to blur with each step Liara took towards Jayne. Shepard absently put down the beer she was holding, hands finding hips and breath catching as delicate blue fingers toyed with the collar of her button-down shirt. Blue eyes darkening beneath green as they kissed. The whisper of a tongues as a hand snaked into hair and palms pulled hips closer.

Not a word.

Jayne felt the ground push against her feet as the blood seemed to drain from her head. Pulling away with the hint of teeth on a lower lip. Mouth parted, Shepard could suddenly taste the vibrations of the air, her gaze falling to the hypnotic gait of Liara as she allowed herself to be led to the dance floor.

Under the thickening haze of strobe lights and grinding bass-lines Jayne feel into the gravity of Liara’s want. Weaving the threads of themselves in pulsing time to the beat of the mass of souls around them. A shower of sparks cascading with each touch. Their bodies connected wordlessly by their craving to fall into the lust that pulled them from themselves.

Liara looped her arms around Jayne’s neck, pulling her close. Breathing each other in, Shepard willingly inhaled the intoxicating smoke smouldering from the twisting vines of darkness lacing Liara’s eyes. She tasted the embers on Liara’s tongue, letting them burn bright, feeding the fire that growled as nails raked her scalp.

Liara let her fingers find strong shoulders, offsetting hips to the press of thighs. Teasing. Falling. Weightless to the world around her wanting only to anchor herself to the feel of Jayne’s certainty against her. Goddess, she felt her body shiver, the graze of Shepard’s teeth against her neck making her ache to answer Jayne’s call.

Pulled closer still. Crawling beneath skin, crossing galaxies, tides of infinity crashing through thoughts.

_I wish we could burn like this forever._

_We’ll turn the dawn to ash._


End file.
